2021-26826. Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2021-2022 Biennial Specifications and Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Final rule; inseason adjustments to biennial groundfish management measures.

SUMMARY:

This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to management measures in commercial groundfish fisheries. This action is intended to allow commercial fishing vessels to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting rebuilding and depleted stocks.

DATES:

This final rule is effective December 10, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

This rule is accessible via the internet at the Office of the Federal Register website at https://www.federalregister.gov. Background information and documents are available at the Pacific Fishery Management Council's website at https://www.pcouncil.org/​.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sean Matson, [phone], email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP) and its implementing regulations at title 50 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 660, subparts C through G, regulate fishing for over 90 species of groundfish off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) develops groundfish harvest specifications and management measures for 2-year periods ( i.e., a biennium). NMFS published the final rule to implement harvest specifications and management measures for the 2021-2022 biennium for most species managed under the PCGFMP on December 11, 2020 (85 FR 79880). In general, the management measures set at the start of the biennial harvest specifications cycle help the various sectors of the fishery attain, but not exceed, the catch limits for each stock. The Council, in coordination with Pacific Coast Treaty Indian Tribes and the states of Washington, Oregon, and California, recommends adjustments to the management measures during the fishing year to achieve this goal.

At the September 2021 Council meeting, the Council's Groundfish Management Team (GMT) received requests from industry members and members of the Council's Groundfish Advisory Subpanel to examine the potential to increase sablefish trips limits for the fixed gear (FG), limited entry (LE) and open access (OA) Daily Trip Limit (DTL) fisheries north of 36° N lat., and to increase trip limits for lingcod north of 42° N latitude. The intent of increasing the sablefish limits was to increase harvest opportunities for vessels targeting sablefish, under a mix of daily, weekly, and bimonthly landings accumulation limits (commonly referred to collectively as “trip limits”); attainment of harvest targets for each DTL fishery, and the northern FG harvest guidelines for sablefish have been trending much lower than anticipated throughout 2021. To evaluate potential increases to sablefish trip limits, the GMT made model-based projections of landings under current regulations, as well as alternative sablefish trip limits, including the limits ultimately recommended by the Council, through the remainder of the year. Under the current trip limits, models predict that landings of sablefish will be far below the harvest targets for LE, and OA fixed gear sablefish DTL fisheries north of 36° N lat. Under the Council's recommended trip limits, sablefish attainment is projected to increase in the LE DTL fishery north of 36° N latitude, from between 54-59 percent attainment, up to between 86 and 95 percent. For the OA DTL fishery, north of 36° N latitude, the projected gains are more modest (from between 53 and 60 percent attainment, to between 57 and 66 percent); however, the OA model is more uncertain and less well informed than the LE model, the changes (both to LE and OA) should allow some beneficial increase in attainment, while being sufficiently precautionary.

The Council also recommended changes to trip limits for lingcod north of 42° N latitude, after request from industry and analysis by the GMT, in order to reduce regulatory discard, which results in waste and lost revenue. Projected impacts to total fishing mortality are nearly identical between the current and recommended trip limits for lingcod, and well within the margin for error, but based on the analysis by the GMT, the higher landing limits are predicted to convert lost fish as discard, into landings and revenue, rather than inspire additional effort. By maintaining the same level of effort, and total fishing mortality, this increase in trip limits is not predicted to increase bycatch of yelloweye rockfish, which is managed under a rebuilding plan, and is a constraint to this fixed gear lingcod attainment.

At its meeting on September 9-15, 2021, the Council recommended increasing trip limits for the LE and OA FG sablefish, DTL fisheries north of 36° N latitude. The Council also recommended increasing trip limits for the FG lingcod fishery, north of 42° N latitude (LE and OA), beginning as soon as possible, for the remainder of the 2021 fishing year and for subsequent November-December periods in later years until superseded. NMFS published these inseason adjustments on October 29, 2021 (86 FR 59876), for vessels using gear other than pot/trap gear. This gear-based limitation was because of the lack of a Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) 101(a)(5)(E) permit for the incidental taking of marine mammals in the sablefish pot gear commercial fisheries. West coast sablefish pot gear fisheries are considered Category II fisheries under the MMPA's List of Fisheries, indicating occasional interactions with marine mammals, due to occasional incidental mortality and serious injury to Endangered Species Act-listed humpback whales (the CA/OR/WA stock of humpback whales). Vessels fishing for sablefish with pot gear also incidentally catch and retain other groundfish species, including lingcod. All other West Coast groundfish fisheries, including trawl and longline fisheries, are considered Category III fisheries under the MMPA, indicating a remote likelihood of, or no known serious injuries or mortalities to, marine mammals. Because sablefish pot gear fisheries are Category II fisheries, NMFS is required to issue a MMPA 101(a)(5)(E) permit for the taking of marine mammals after making a negligible impact determination (NID). NMFS published a notice of proposed issuance of a MMPA 101(a)(5)(E) permit and proposed NID in the Federal Register on October 22, 2021 (86 FR 58641). On December 8, 2021, NMFS issued an MMPA section 101(a)(5)(E) permit for the sablefish pot gear fishery.

These inseason adjustments increase the trip limits for vessels using pot/trap gear to match the limits in place for other FGs since October 29, 2021. The background on the rationale for the trip limit increases and the modeling that was completed in support of these inseason recommendations can be found in the preamble to 86 FR 59876 (October 29, 2021).

Summary of Changes

Trip limit increases for sablefish are intended to increase attainment of the LE and OA DTL fisheries, which each contribute to attainment of the non-trawl HG for sablefish north of 36° N latitude. The proposed trip limit increases do not change projected impacts to co-occurring rebuilding species as analyzed in the 2021-2022 harvest specifications because the projected impacts to those species assume that the entire sablefish Annual Catch Limit (ACL) is harvested. Recommended increases to lingcod north of 42° N latitude are intended to convert regulatory discards into landings and associated revenue, and are not predicted to increase effort or bycatch of co-occurring rebuilding species. Therefore, the Council recommended, and NMFS is implementing, by modifying Table 2, North and South to part 660, subpart E, trip limit changes for the LE FG fishery north of 40°10′ N lat., as well as Table 3, North and South to part 660, subpart F, to increase the limits as shown in tables 1 and 2 in this rule.

Table 1—Trip Limits by Gear Type for Sablefish North of 36° N Latitude for the Remainder of 2021 and November-December Periods Thereafter Until Superseded

	Trip limit for vessels using pot/trap gear
LEFG	4,500 lb (2,041 kg)/week, not to exceed 9,000 lb (4,082 kg)/2 months.
OA	600 lb (272 kg), or 1 landing per week of up to 3,000 lb (1,361 kg), not to exceed 6,000 lb (2,722 kg)/2 months.

Table 2—Trip Limits by Gear Type for Lingcod North of 42° N Latitude for the Remainder of 2021 and November-December Periods Thereafter Until Superseded

	Trip limit for vessels using pot/trap gear
LEFG	5,000 lb (2,268 kg)/2 months.
OA	2,500 lb (1,134 kg)/month.

Classification

This final rule makes routine inseason adjustments to groundfish fishery management measures, based on the best scientific information available, consistent with the PCGFMP and its implementing regulations.

This action is taken under the authority of 50 CFR 660.60(c) and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

The aggregate data upon which these actions are based are available for public inspection by contacting Dr. Sean Matson in the West Coast Region (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT , above), or by visiting the NMFS West Coast Groundfish website: https://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/​fisheries/​groundfish/​index.html.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b), NMFS finds good cause to waive prior public notice and an opportunity for public comment on this action, as notice and comment would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest. The adjustments to management measures in this document increase trip limits for fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California to allow for greater attainment of allocations. No aspect of this action is controversial, and changes of this nature were anticipated in the final rule for the 2021-2022 harvest specifications and management measures, which was published on December 11, 2020 (85 FR 79880).

The Council recommended sablefish limit changes to increase opportunity to attain harvest targets and allocations for the respective fisheries, and contribute to attainment of the ACL. New information became available at the Council's September 2021 meeting showing that harvest was tracking much lower than projections made during the harvest specifications process due to changing fishery conditions. The updated trip limits being implemented in this rule are anticipated to increase landings and fishing community revenue, while maintaining harvest within scientifically informed conservation limits, concomitant with the goals of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Council recommended increased lingcod landing limits to reduce regulatory discard; new information became available at the Council's September 2021 meeting indicating that current levels of landing limits were having the unintended consequence of causing fishers to discard substantial amounts of catch. Implementing the recommended trip limits is projected to reduce regulatory discards, without changing attainment rate of the allocation, by enabling those fish to be landed rather than wasted, and produce fisher and community revenue.

Delaying implementation to allow for public comment would reduce the economic benefits to the commercial fishing industry and the businesses that rely on that industry because it is unlikely the new regulations would publish and could be implemented before the end of the calendar year. Therefore, providing a comment period for this action could significantly limit the economic benefits to the fishery, and would hamper the achievement of optimum yield from the affected fisheries.

Therefore, NMFS finds reason to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1) so that this final rule may become effective upon publication in the Federal Register . The adjustments to management measures in this document affect commercial fisheries by increasing opportunity and relieving participants of the lower trip limits in light of information showing lower than usual attainment. These adjustments were requested by the Council's advisory bodies, as well as by members of industry during the September 2021 meeting, and recommended unanimously by the Council. No aspect of this action is controversial, and changes of this nature were anticipated in the biennial harvest specifications and management measures established through a notice and comment rulemaking for 2021-2022 (85 FR 79880).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

• Fisheries
• Fishing, and Indian fisheries

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and 16 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.

Dated: December 7, 2021.

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is amended as follows:

PART 660—FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES

1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and 16 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.

2. Revise Table 2 (North) to part 660, subpart E, to read as follows:

Table 2 (North) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear North of 40°10′ N Lat.

3. Revise Table 2 (South) to part 660, subpart E, to read as follows:

Table 2 (South) to Part 660, Subpart E—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Limited Entry Fixed Gear South of 40°10′ N Lat.

4. Revise Table 3 (North) to part 660, subpart F, to read as follows:

Table 3 (North) to Part 660, Subpart F—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears North of 40°10′ N Lat.

5. Revise Table 3 (South) to part 660, subpart F, to read as follows:

Table 3 (South) to Part 660, Subpart F—Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Areas and Trip Limits for Open Access Gears South of 40°10′ N Lat.